The Domino effect of the transfer saga has begun, as the elite prospect of Atletico Madrid, Joao Felix has been sent on loan to Chelsea FC for a loan fee of €11 million with full wages being paid by the London club. The duration of the loan is six months.
The deal is financially lucrative for Atletico Madrid, who have not included any buy-out clause in the deal, which means the club saves his wages and earn substantial money. However, that is not the main concern for La Blaugrana faithful here.
The place of the Portuguese youngster will remain empty, and given that the squad is depleted in terms of forwards for the Madrid-based club, they are forced to search for short-term replacements. And as the latest reports from Relevo narrates, they have set their sight on the out-of-favor Barcelona forward Memphis Depay.
Memphis Depay arrived at Barcelona from Lyon after taking a wage cut and scored a total of 12 goals in his debut season along with 2 assists. Although, the arrival of Lewandowski meant that the forward could not enjoy much game time, who also is not a great fit for the system as far as the profile requirements are concerned.
This season he has only played 114 minutes till now, with only 1 goal scored for La Blaugrana. Given his age, 28, the lack of game time is a concern for the forward who would like to make the most out of his career. This was also evident last summer when he wanted a move to Juventus, but the deal was called off after a dispute arose regarding the financial aspect of the contract.
Barcelona’s hierarchy was willing to give Memphis Depay a letter of freedom last season, but since the deal fell off mid-way, the club had to sell Aubameyang to Chelsea instead to maintain financial Fair Play along with registering the summer arrivals. This means that now the club would ask for some amount of money for his departure in case any club approaches him over a permanent transfer.
The club also needs to be vary of the fact that they are strengthening their direct rivals. The very same incident happened in the case of Luis Suarez, who was signed by Atletico, and later on, he helped them win La Liga.
Will the same happen with Memphis Depay? Perhaps not, as the deal will probably be for 6 months, and as far as the current scenario is concerned, Atletico are far off from competing for the top 2nd spot let alone winning the competition itself.
Xavi also reiterated in his interview that he is happy with the current crop of players and given the fixture pileup, the likelihood of this deal materializing is quite low unless Barcelona decide to bring back Aubameyang to reinforce the void left after Depay’s departure.
